I like it cold, grim and atmospheric: Immortal, Mayhem, and all that shit. Now, what's some awesome American (non-Skandinavian) material? Remember, I'm looking for atmospheric and cold sounding black metal that is still (emotional and) hateful; I can't stand that war metal bullshit that only consists of blasting and bad riffing. I'd prefer mid-tempo material. I've got a lot of European shit here, but what's up with American black metal?

There is no cohesive US scene or style. A lot of different USBM bands that sound completely different from one another. Although it sounds like you're just looking for a US band playing the norwegian style so I'm sure you'd love Judas Iscariot.

There's a ton of it that deserves attention, in my opinion, but most of it is not of the cold and atmospheric variety. Wind of the Black Mountains, Grand Belial's Key, and Havohej's Dethrone the Son of God, specifically.

Actually fuck it I know exactly what you need: Pagan Hammer. This is as atmospheric as it gets. Certainly a cold and isolated feeling.

Early and mid-era Judas Iscariot fits your bill. The first is very Darkthrone-esque, after that they solidify a more personal sound. Always high quality. Not much to say because JI speaks for itself by being one of the premiere black metal acts in the world.

I Shalt Become's first two are a kind of dreamy, dreary re-imagining of Burzum without sounding like anything before or since. I'd call it cold and atmospheric, but I think most people would find it too bleak to be particularly enjoyable. The third and fourth come off a bit less hostile and alienated, and a bit more yearning and tragic, and finally the new one is heavily classical music influenced and runs the full gamut from winsome, to violent, to mournful, to darkly adventurous and finally to a kind of tragically triumphant crescendo mirroring the Pyrrhic victory that is life itself. Yeah, I'm into ISB, and you should be too.

Lunar Reign's first album is a very rough edged slab of ITNE worship, but in my humble estimation EXCEEDS that classic in its sheer alien occultism and cosmically adventurous spirit. Their second is an extremely professional mix of modern styles. A nice mix of death, black, and heavy metal riffs in a smoothly flowing black metal compositions with just enough little wonky bits thrown in here and there to keep you just slightly off balance. I highly recommend this unfortunately obscure band.

Finally, Blood Cult and Tjolgtjar. To be honest, these are highly idiosyncratic of my personal taste and they are not widely appreciated and don't really fit your request, but I'm obligated to mention them in all rec threads, so there you go. Blood Cult mixes 80's black metal with 80's heavy metal and 70's occult jam rock (at their best ["Goat Riders in the Sky", "We Who Walk Behind The Rows", "We Are The Cult Of The Plains"], at their worst ["The Hellfire Curse", "The Black Oath of the Blood Cult"] they are 80's black metal mixed with 80's grindcore). Neither style is bad, but obviously they are best at their most rockin'. Tjolgtjar, masterminded by the same guy is early 90's black metal fused with at different times 70's rock'n'roll ("Ikarikitomidun, Lord of the Forest") or a heaping helping of Motörhead in every spoonful ("Midnight Mindtrip"), and sometimes they just jam ("I Am A Wolf"). ALL of these styles are great and ALL are fully endorsed by me! If you are into black'n'roll, or find any of those descriptions enticing, you cannot go wrong with these bands! Of course, if you want a black metal fans black metal, stick to Judas Iscariot and Lunar Reign. There's nothing to lose and EVIL to gain!

Seconding Wind of the Black Mountains and Havohej. Grand Belial's Key not so much.

Inquisition is pretty good. They're originally from Colombia, which also counts as "american", but I consider them US anyway. I absolutely love the latest album (Ominous Doctrines....) which has the best production yet. Very later-Immortal (At the Heart of Winter and beyond) sounding, but a bit more "evil" and less "frostbitten" if that makes sense. Lots of mid-paced material as well, so it should fit what you're looking for.

Regardless of what you're asking for if black metal is the subject Inquisition is always the answer. I sort of assumed he was up on them already. Although I would definitely suggest starting with the debut. The new one is a lot more concise and has some very powerful songs but that debut is just chock full of atmosphere and killer riffs. Prefer the rougher production by a good margin.

Damn I really need to check out Tjorlgjlktlar. You always make them sound like it'd be right up my alley.

Amazingly, a lot of people just don't know about Inquisition. From what I've seen, they kill live, their albums kill, their image kills, their lyrics and song titles kill and their devotion to Satan is true. They have no appreciable flaws. All that needs to be done is to get the word out on them whenever possible.

And yeah, definitely check Tjolgtjar out (yes, I can spell it from memory ). Go for the three I mentioned, that covers pretty much all the styles they go for. The earlier stuff isn't as good as the later stuff, they've definitely improved over time. Also, the previous albums tend to be more simplistic, not bad, but I'd say they are just now really hitting their stride and have fully grown into themselves (same goes for Blood Cult). Can't wait for the coming releases (there's three or so albums just sitting on the shelf, waiting for a label because life sucks).

Even their demos fucking slay, albeit in a totally different style of music. Dagon seems to just be one of those infallible characters that metal produces from time to time. And you're right I really enjoy that almost every song is a love poem to Satan but it never comes off as sounding ironic or feigned.

I was probably going to just start with the 5 Keys compilation for the sake of ease but I may end up getting all of the used stuff I can find. I definitely like what I'm reading about Sabbathy and NWOBHM riffing going on.

Sorcier Des Glaces fits your criteria to a T. Both records (and the coming one) are concept albums about the cold wintery northland, and its all full of atmosphere and melody and whatnot. It's better than I'm able to creatively describe it atm.

Do not, under any circumstances, listen to wolves in the throne room. That shit will shrink your balls and give you AIDS.

This. Also, avoid Kvlt of Azazel and Imperial Crystalline Entombment if you're not into Marduk-ish brainless blasts and bad riffing, like you said.

I'd highly recommend Avichi and Unholy Trinity. Both are underground, fuzzy and rather reminiscent of second wave European black. Even though they don't really push any boundaries, they're good at what they do and they provide enjoyable listens. Teratism is another option in this respect. Weakling is a relatively well known band that released a very interesting full-length album. The 5 tracks stretch over some 70 or 80 minutes and it is very versatile and creative in its own way. There's a pretty harsh review here on MA for that release, but I can't say I agree very much with that.

These bands meet your criteria in my opinion, but you could of course experience them differently.

EDIT: You could try Vpaahsalbrox and Yamatu as well. I haven't gotten round to listening to those bands for quite some time but I remember I found them both pretty interesting. Not sure whether they'd fit your criteria entirely. Vpaahsalbrox will fit them most, I think.

If you like Demoncy or Beherit, check out "Von". Check out their old shit as their reunion shit is an abomination.

You might like Negative Plane's Et In Seacula Seaculorum which is good Mercyful Fate inspired occultish BM with some Celtic Frost & Mortuary Drape influence as well. Stear clear of their new album though, Stained Glass Revelations, as it's uninspired hipster garbage.

Disregard the Wolves in the Throne Room hate; they're quite an excellent band. More so than Tjolgtjar or Krieg, both of which are rather mediocre, in my eyes. I also second the Leviathan mention; you really can't go wrong with any of Wrest's digs, even though some of the bands he shares split-albums with are pretty shit (Blackdeath being the most notable example).

Joined: Sat May 20, 2006 2:07 amPosts: 394Location: United States of America

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:10 am

Nightbringer is pretty good. They have a good deal of mid-tempos and their style is consistently dark and dissonant, almost to a tedious fault, but you may like them if your looking for that kind of thing. They can wear you down though, so I tend to think this band is better in doses.

Also, seconding...Negative Plane is very unique and just flat-out amazing and Sorcier des Glaces is an awesome recommendation. I love that band, especially their first album Snowland